March 6 – May 31, 2013. Exhibition: Religion in Gardner, Past and Present This exhibition, Religion in Gardner, will offer local congregations an opportunity to share their history and ministry in Gardner. The exhibit will show the history of faith communities in Gardner since its founding in 1785. In the 228 years since then, faith communities have continued to rise from the hearts and spirits of local citizens. These “churches” have grown, split, merged, and dissolved. They have been merged and relocated. They have addressed varied needs of the community – sacred and secular. The people in these congregations lived out their faith beliefs while aiding Gardner’s rise to its heyday as a manufacturing capital for furniture making. These churches have prepared people to work all across the world, and will be instrumental in Gardner’s future in the 21st century. Religion has been an integral part of Gardner’s ethos, both influencing and being influenced as the community has grown and evolved. In the time of the Revolution, petitions sought grants for forming a civic community. These petitions were conditional on the forming of a faith community. This condition was met when the First Congregational Church was founded in February 1786. As prescribed in the laws of the Mass Bay Colony and later the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, church attendance was a moral and a civic duty (including paying taxes to support the town church. – a statue until 1833). Most town centers provided a place that addressed the needs of the community: both civic (secular) and religious (sacred). A single building usually met these original needs. Though the original building is long gone, the present day Congregational church gathers in the red-brick building on 28 Green Street that rests on the land of the original town green. The currents edifice was dedicated in 1879. |